Manmohan Singh and Obama Play “Small Ball”

Photo from flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/csisponi/4882127963/sizes/m/in/photolist

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s White House visit September 27 was workmanlike and cordial, but the sense of barely meeting low expectations was hard to miss. The two governments put out a long list of accomplishments. They announced a few new items, notably new defense framework statement and a preliminary contract between Westinghouse and the Indian nuclear authorities regarding construction of a nuclear power plant in Gujarat. The discussions were wide-ranging. But those who were looking for a dynamic re-launch of the relationship were destined to be disappointed. In American baseball language, they were playing “small ball” – a game of small moves and modest, hopefully steady, rewards.

Read the full article, published in The Hindu October 7, 2013.

India’s Sagging Economy – Strategic Consequences

Photo from flickr, http://www.flickr.com/photos/8458252@N05/3425108634/in/photolist

September 20, 2013: Two decades of rapid economic growth and surging international trade gave India the economic and strategic heft to go with its world-wide vision and voice. The current slump threatens to bring back the lowest economic numbers in twenty years. This sagging performance will burden both India’s domestic politics and its global strategic goals. Manmohan Singh’s visit to Washington will provide some short term relief, but all India’s contenders for political power need to be thinking about how to get India’s economy humming again.

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India: The Long Road to Nuclear Trade

By Hendrik Tammen (Enricopedia), http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Nuclear_power_plant_blue.svg

July 5, 2013: The Indian press recently carried several stories reporting some forward movement toward sale of U.S. nuclear reactors to India. A closer look at the state of play suggests that we are indeed inching forward toward the nuclear trade made possible by the India-U.S. Agreement on Civil Nuclear Cooperation, but the finish line is still agonizingly far.

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Kerry in India: Steady Steps toward Partnership

From Wikimedia, Dept of State photo, Secretary Kerry and Minister Khurshid

June 25, 2013: On his maiden voyage to India as secretary of state, John Kerry put his own stamp on an ambitious agenda for reinvigorating U.S. – India ties and strengthening the staying power that this high-maintenance relationship requires.  The next few months will feature further high-level contacts: in July, the Indian ministers of commerce and finance will visit Washington and Vice President Joe Biden will go to New Delhi; Prime Minister Manmohan Singh travels to Washington in September. The challenge for the United States will be to build on the issues that Kerry stressed – the economic relationship, but also Afghanistan and Pakistan, and furthering our engagement in East Asia. This series of action-forcing events should reinfuse the India-U.S. partnership with more of the “can do” spirit that brought about the 2008 nuclear deal.

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B. Raman: Realpolitik in the Service of India

Indian post near Chinese border, http://www.flickr.com/photos/ahinsajain/3933851341/sizes/m/in/photolist

June 16, 2013: The news that Indian political and security analyst B. Raman had succumbed to his years-long battle with cancer came as a jolt on a quiet Sunday afternoon. We were among his many avid readers, and had last seen him early in 2012, over a cup of tea and his usual acerbic conversation, in Chennai. He was characteristically harsh in his judgments of both the U.S. and Indian governments over the Maldives, the topic of the hour. And, equally characteristically, he was unwavering in his conviction that India needed to define and pursue its interests – realistically and, if necessary, cold-bloodedly. His firm views, which he set out in briskly drafted, numbered paragraphs that reflected his long career in government, were always insightful and often unorthodox. We often disagreed, but he was always worth reading.

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